Garbage Collection

Provisions of Refuse Contract

The City of Sycamore has approved a refuse contract with Waste Management that offers the citizens of Sycamore the following benefits and services:

Benefits

Free 96 gallon cart

As mentioned below, the new refuse contract calls for a free 96 gallon cart for each home. New home owner’s please note the “toter service” as it calls for new homes to be issued a cart.

Recycling Bin Program

In an effort to promote recycling of materials with remaining useful life, the new contract provides that if anyone moves into a home and finds that there is not a recycling bin, they will be issued one at no charge.

Services

Service Inquiries

If you should have any questions regarding your curbside collection service or if you should experience any collection problem, please contact Waste Management at 1-800-414-5325.

Toter Service

Each residence will receive one 96-gallon toter for refuse to be serviced once a week. Senior citizens 65 years of age or better may elect to have a 35-gallon toter in lieu of the 96-gallon toter. As new homes are built and occupied, new homeowners will be furnished with one 96-gallon toter. The toter will remain the property of Waste Management. Each toter has a unique serial number and is assigned to a specific address in the city.

Refuse Collection Guidelines

General Provisions

Collection days will remain the same.

Household refuse and yardwaste will be collected between 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM on your scheduled collection day. Please have all items, (refuse, recycling, and yardwaste), out by 6:00 AM on collection day. Separate trucks on different schedules pick up refuse, recycling, and yardwaste, so each of these discarded materials may be picked up at different times of the day.

Items for collection may be placed at the curb after 6:00 PM on the day before your scheduled pick up. Residents must remove containers from the curb by 8:00 PM on the day of collection.

Collection shall be once a week for each residential dwelling unit. Scheduled pick up days that fall on or after a legal holiday shall be one day late following the holiday that week. For the purpose of this contract the following holidays will be observed:

New Year’s Day

Labor Day

Memorial Day

Thanksgiving Day

Independence Day

Christmas Day

Refuse in excess of the 96-gallon toter may be placed in 32-gallon cans (not to exceed 50 lbs.) alongside the toter on collection day, un-containerized bags will not be collected.

Household Waste Collection

Do not mix household refuse with yardwaste. Mixed refuse and yardwaste cannot be collected.

Bulk Items, up to two (2) bulk items per week that are too large to fit into an approved 32-gallon container will be collected if set out on collection day.

Carpet Rolls, up to ten (10) rolls per week, carpet must either be rolled and tied in bundles weighing less than fifty (50) pounds, up to four (4) feet in length and up to twenty-four (24) inches in diameter, or placed in 32-gallon containers weighing up to fifty (50) pounds to be collected.

Appliances containing CFC or HCFC, PCB’s, Mercury switches or other hazardous components (refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, humidifiers, etc.) are banned from landfill disposal. There is a separate fee for each appliance, please call customer service at 1-800-414-5325 to arrange collection. A separate truck will collect white goods in order for them to be processed in accordance with State Law.

Do it yourself construction or demolition debris, up to four (4) cans or bundles per week, must either be placed in bundles weighing less than fifty (50) pounds, up to four (4) feet in length and up to twenty-four (24) inches in diameter, or placed in 32-gallon containers weighing up to fifty (50) pounds to be collected.

Special Collections, One (1) cubic yard shall be the minimum amount of refuse required for a special collection. The Contractor shall advise the resident directly of the terms of special collections; i.e. what materials will be collected; how the materials should be prepared; the date of collection; the policy of providing advance estimates of charges.

Special collection will be COD. Contact Waste Management Customer Service for details at 1-800-414-5325.

Household products that are flammable, toxic, corrosive, or reactive can pose a harmful threat or damage the environment when disposed of improperly. Items like waste paint, pesticides, poisons, cleaning solvents, household batteries, tainted gasoline, used oil, and other automobile fluids are considered to be Household Hazardous Waste, (HHW), and should not be included with your refuse for disposal.

Yardwaste Collection

Yardwaste is collected at the curb from the first of April through the end of November.

Brush and tree trimmings must be bundled and tied with biodegradable twine or string in distinct piles that are no longer than four (4) feet in length and twenty-four (24) inches in diameter weighing up to 50 pounds.

Christmas trees will be collected from Christmas through the end of January. Christmas trees must be free of all decorations and cannot be in plastic bags.

Residents are encouraged to compost landscape waste materials rather than dispose of them at the curb.